Dúo Villa-Lobos

Duo Villa-Lobos
Cecilia Palma, Cello
Edwin Guevara, Guitar
The Duo Villa-Lobos is a well-established and renowned chamber music group, a leading force in this genre worldwide. They began working at the Liceu Conservatory of Music in Barcelona, ​​Spain, in 2003. They have performed concerts in Europe, the United States, and South America in prestigious venues such as the Luis Ángel Arango Concert Hall, the Julio Mario Santo Domingo Major Theater, the Colón Theater in Bogotá, the Ateneo de Barcelona, ​​the Hill Auditorium, the Stamps Auditorium, Holsclaw Hall, Crowder Hall, and Centennial Hall, among others. They have amassed a large repertoire of original works and arrangements in various styles for this chamber music ensemble. Since its inception, the Villa-Lobos Duo has encouraged composers to write original works for this unconventional chamber format. Renowned composers such as Leo Brouwer (Cuba), Atanas Ourkouzounov (Bulgaria), Blas Emilio Atehortúa (Colombia), Jorge Miguel González, Carles Guinovart, Gabriel Estarellas, Francesc Taverna Bech, Gloria Villanueva, Josep Galeote (Spain), Jaime Zénamon (Bolivia), Ricardo Pauletti (Brazil), Jan Freidlin (Russia), Gerard Drozd (Poland), José Antonio Guerrero (USA - Mexico), Giorgio Tortora (Italy), Pedro Sarmiento, Carlos Lora Falquez, Andrés Sánchez (Colombia), among others, have dedicated their works to them. The duo received the top prize for contemporary music at the Arjau Music Performance Festival in Barcelona and were awarded the Octavio Marulanda Morales Prize at the Ruitoqueño Festival of Colombian Music. In 2017, they were invited by the University of Michigan to perform the opening concert of the festival "En Español: Sounds of Hispanospheres" at the Stamps Auditorium of the Walgreens Drama Center and gave the festival's main concert at the legendary Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor, accompanied by the University Philharmonia Orchestra of Michigan, premiering the "Gran Concierto Sinfónico La Madre Monte" for Cello, Guitar, and Symphony Orchestra, Opus 198. They also premiered this concerto in Colombia, accompanied by the Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra. This work was composed and dedicated to the Villa-Lobos Duo by the Bolivian-German composer Jaime Zénamon. The Villa-Lobos Duo released their first album, "Music for Cello and Guitar," with NAXOS, the world's leading classical music label, and launched a line of chamber music for cello and guitar with a repertoire from Eastern Europe and South America on that label. The album features works by renowned composers such as Dusan Bogdanovic (Serbia), Jaime Zénamon (Bolivia), Sergio Assad (Brazil), Atanas Ourkouzounov (Bulgaria), and Edwin Guevara-Gutiérrez (Colombia). The recording took place at the Luis Ángel Arango Concert Hall of the Banco de la República in Colombia. “Music for Cello and Guitar” by the Villa-Lobos Duo is the first recording made in Colombia for this important record label, recorded at the Luis Ángel Arango Library Concert Hall in Bogotá. They are currently preparing new recordings with Naxos, as a duo, for Latin American solo cello, and for Ibero-American solo guitar. The Villa-Lobos Duo has received the highest praise from both audiences and critics, with reviews and articles in various digital and print media outlets, including: The Classical Guitar Magazine, The Violin Channel, Musicalifeiten, Memoirs Classical Guitar Magazine, David's Review Corner, Revista A Tempo, El Tiempo, El Espectador, El Nuevo Siglo, and Arcadia.

Cecilia Palma holds a DMA in Musical Arts from the University of Arizona (United States), a Master's degree in Art Education from the National University of Colombia, and two postgraduate degrees from the Liceu Conservatory of Music in Barcelona as a scholarship recipient from the Carolina Foundation of Spain. She is also a graduate of IUDEM in Caracas (Venezuela), a cellist with the Bogotá Philharmonic Orchestra, a cello and chamber music professor at the National University of Colombia, and a Bella Rosin and Naxos artist.

Edwin Guevara Gutiérrez holds a DMA in Musical Arts from the University of Arizona, a Master's degree in Symphonic Conducting from the National University of Colombia, and a Higher Diploma in Music with a specialization in Guitar from the Liceu Conservatory of Music in Barcelona, ​​Spain. He also holds a Master's degree in Classical Guitar Performance from the University of Alicante. A guitarist, composer, conductor, arranger, researcher, and educator, he is a member of the Funmúsica Technical Committee and founder and artistic co-director of the Tequendama Cultural Foundation. Edwin is a Naxos artist, represented by Knobloch Strings in Spain, Guitarlift in Germany, Guitar by Masters, and Crossrockcases in the United States. His compositions are published by Bergmann Editions in Denmark. He teaches and directs the Colombian music program at the National University of Colombia's Conservatory of Music.